RP Pitboss #2 [SPOILERS] - Darius I of the Holy Roman Empire

[Nakor]

Yeah, there's that to consider as well. I'm not a great fan of the war idea myself.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 76 started - not finished yet.[/SIZE]

Horses are connected!

Axe attacked warrior in barb town, no damage to axe. Second axe can attack next turn as well, so with 2 warriors left we should take barb town (Crydee) next turn. Hopefully that will give us enough gold to start CoL research. the city will start on a monument, I think.

Send an Axe to explore dantski's proposed city site east of Krondor.
Worker near Krondor is in the forest. Chop will start next turn. Shall we put the overflow of the chop in a worker or an axe/spear/chariot?

I'd like to keep Krondor at size 4 sine it's quite productive. Could even get another settler from there if we keep Rolan on military duty.

One interesting thing, in the power graph we passed Dantski and Plako, but on the demo page we're still 6th on soldiers... are all others that much stronger?

[DMOC]

Declare war on dantski? No thanks please.

Horses connected - good. Don't forget to build maybe 2 extra spears so we have 3 available by turn 100. What do you think? They could be a worthy investment.

I wouldn't worry about power now. All that matters is that we're able to field about 10 military units by turn 100 and send a couple to attack and a couple to defend.

[DMOC]

Speaker/Sullla email

Dear Nakor and DMOC of Holy Rome,

We saw this turn that Dantski founded a new city (Gao), and was wondering if it was located near your borders, since we didn't see it near us. Is there anything you can tell us about that situation?

I don't mean to pry here, but it seems like it would benefit both our teams to share info on Dantski and what he's up to. For instance, we know that Dantski has a copper resource mined at his third city (Kumbi Saleh) but it's still not connected to his capital yet - needs more roads, apparently.

Hope you had a great holiday break,
Sullla
The Killer Angels

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear Sullla,

You are correct in that Dantski of Mali has founded a city near us. The Romamalinese empire and us have agreed that Dantski can build a city there. Dantski and us had a minor dispute about the location of the city since it was really close to us, but right now we do not have complaints/issues. We hope to have a city south of Gao, but will try to interfere as little as possible with Gao.

It's interesting that Dantski doesn't have copper connected. I suppose it isn't really necessary for him to have copper, since he's got beefed-up archers instead.

I am having a great holiday break (but I have college applications to do), and I hope you are too.

Sincerely,
DMOC for the DMOC/Nakor team for HRE[/COLOR]

[Nakor]

Well, how right I was there.
Seems like India is interested in a war with Mali in the future.
Kalin proposed a war with Dantski to explain the military buidup both of us will be doing, not an actual war. but I don't like that either.

[Nakor]

Ended the tuns and sent a message to Plako:

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear Plako,

We hope you had a nice Christmas!

Now that the game is resumed, we hope you can connect copper soon and will be able to build a few axes/spears yourself.
Let's hope Whosit will maintain peace a while longer.
Do you have a NAP with him already?

We hope for a long and prosperous relationship between our countries.

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE
[/COLOR]

Looked things up and our NAP with him is untill turn 135 with 10 turn cooldown.

Sent a message to Dantski to prolongue our NAP. I'd like to see us go for sailing after CoL and start buidling cities on islands. Let's keep out of a war in our lands as long as possible.

[COLOR="orange"]Hi Dantski,

I heard from Kalin that both you and Jowy are in on the CoW.

That leads me to propose a prolongation of our NAP.
We'd like to have an NAP at least untill the end of the war but are interested in an even longer one of that suits your plans.

Please tell us your thoughts concerning this.

And again I'd like to offer our thanks regarding your changed attitude towards us keeping Barb City (Crydee will be it's name later on).
We'll also be working on connecting our empires by a road if that's ok to you, we'll be building a road to Gao first, I think.

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

[DMOC]

CoL - Sailing - Math/Constr?

Also, we're still at 0% research right?

[Nakor]

Yes, we are. Hopefully the barb city will give us enough money to run a 17 turn research on CoL.

What do you think is the army we can muster at turn 100 for the CoW? And how do you suggest we assemble it?
I've got the feeling that you're a bit more experienced in early warfare, DMOC, so I'm going to count on you in this plan a lot, if that's ok with you.

Currently our army consists of 4 warriors (3 in our cities, 1 exploring) and 4 axes.

[Nakor]

We got a message from Plako:

Hi Nakor and DMOC,

We haven't had any discussion with Whosit, but his power has been
gradually raising and it is quite a bit higher than ours. He hasn't
been intrested in NAP with us.

We'll have copper hooked up next turn and I'll definately build few axes.

Kind regards,
Plako

Our reply (with the notification of a barb threath near Whosit):

[COLOR="Orange"]Hi Plako,

We're sorry to hear that Whosit isn't interested in a NAP.
We do like to tell you that our exploring warrior was killed by an axe just east of Whosit's lands, so he might have some trouble there if barb axes keep spawning. So let's hope that keeps him busy and will stop him from attacking you.

Good to hear that you almost have copper connected! That should help a bit in defense.

Dantski just planted a city very close to our borders, what to do with that...
Also, we're a bit worried about India... they are very good...

Regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

Got a message from Whosit, asking us to mention the barbs:

Dear Nakor and DMOC,

I imagine that some of our conversation will overlap with the Coalition planning, but there's no harm in that. At the time of this writing, I have heard that the Romali and Greece have both joined the Coalition, which is very good. If our coordination is at least average, we should do well. Hopefully we'll do better than average.

At this time, I am not sure if I will be able to move through Korea or not, though I do not expect to get Open Borders with them. I plan to use Galleys to get to India, so the point should be moot. I also do not plan to sign a NAP with them, but I should be able to spare enough soldiers for the war against India regardless. Oh, and the word you were looking for is "necessary." Speaking of, I've tracked down that Barbarian Axeman; I expect to end his life on the next turn.

However, if you still wish to do so, I would appreciate it if you mentioned the barbarian city to the Koreans. Exaggerate the threat, even (though keep it reasonable, if you do). I don't know if they would believe that the troops I am building are simply to keep the Barbarians at bay, but it wouldn't hurt if they did believe that.

By the way, in which direction do you think you will be expanding? I have had the impression that your expansion to the north has been blocked by the Romali? Do you plan to expand towards Korea? That's fine with me, I'm just curious. As you might guess, I wouldn't mind if Korea started to run out of room to expand further.

Though I am sure that we will both be keeping up with the Coalition "newsletter," please let me know if I can be of any additional assistance.

Our reply:

[COLOR="orange"]Dear Whosit,

I just send a message to Plako in which I told him about the axe that attacked us east of the Empire.
Good to hear you're taking care of that axe and we do hope that there won't be that many. On the other hand, it's nice training for your preats!

It is indeed good to hear that Greece and Romali joined to CoW. Now let's see if we can do some serious damage.

Regarding our expansion, we're currently planning two cities to our east, towards Plako. One near the south coast in a great production site, the other on the north coast to get galley's and move to the centre isle. But that will only happen after turn 100, I think. Unless we can get a galley from someone else.
Once we've build that city on the north coast and you have sailing, trading becomes possible between us. I think that's a good thing.

We suspect that Plako will focus his expansion on the islands outside the donut, so it won't be easy to eliminate him completely....

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

And a message from India:

Dear Nakor and DMOC of Holy Rome,


Thanks for your message; it's good to hear that you were able to work out a peaceful solution with Dantski. If we come across any other tidbits of information, we'll pass them on to you.

Our team will reach 43 Espionage Points with you next turn, after which we will switch our spending to other teams. Thanks for agreeing to cap EP spending with us!

Sullla
The Killer Angels

And our reply:

[COLOR="orange"]Dear Sulla and Speaker,

Peacefull solution, that sounds great. Although I have to admit that we're not THAT happ with Dantksi's city placement there. It only nabs one deer and not a lot of production, so we don't really see the point of that city. Then again, land is power...

Our EP will take a bit longer to get to 43. But we'll stop spending, as promised, after that.

Does Dantski have a road net connected to you? If so, our trade should pick up once we've connected our roads to Dantski, right?

Oh, and I still forgot to congratulate you on the scientist! Great job there.

Kind regards,
Nakor of HRE
[/COLOR]

[Nakor]

And an update on the CoW messages

First, the ottomans:

Members of the CoW,

I have some less good news. I noticed that 2 turns ago India's power
spiked, and I suspect it's not all from techs. Maybe some of the
people scouting India's land can tell us more.

Since the game is going again, we need to get organized a bit faster.
Please try to send some plan to the others so that we can comment and
see how to collaborate better.

Thanks

Whosit/Empire:

Greetings Friends and Allies,

I am very glad to hear that the Romali and Greece are on board. I agree with Kalin's assertion that we will be successful, although we cannot take success for granted, either. I am sure that once everyone states what forces they expect to be able to contribute we will be able begin formulating our strategy.

Speaking of strategy, I wanted to address our goals for this operation. Our objective should be clear. However, while I am fairly certain that I know what we want to do, I wish to suggest what our primary objective should be. We have many options: Simply harass India without eliminating them; destroy most of their towns; completely eliminate them. We could pick any of those goals and develop our plans around that. However, I think that our primary objective should be to completely eliminate India. In the event that they have secured overseas colonies, I think that we can settle with: Driving India off of the continent.

If we agree that this is our objective, we will have to make sure that we can bring enough forces to bear.

Most of you know that I am on tense terms with the Koreans. I expect that a significant number of my troops will be required to secure my territory in the near future. However, I still believe that I will be able to contribute soldiers to the cause. To that end, I have decided to research Sailing before Writing in order to build Galleys sooner rather than later. Sailing should be completed no later than Turn 90, though hopefully a little sooner. I plan to ship my troops to India via the sea. I will have at least two Galleys holding a total of four Praetorians, though I will try to make that three and six. There is a good chance that I will land in waves, hopefully having another four soldiers ready to go when the Galleys come back, but I cannot say for certain. There is also a possibility that I will not be ready to move out immediately on Turn 100, though I will do all that I can to meet that deadline.

I would also like to point out that India will probably have a tech advantage over most of us. I expect to see Catapults, even, so Horse Archers may be quite valuable. Kalin has pointed out a recent boost to India's power. I recall seeing several Chariots when I passed through their territory, and they have just made a two-popluation and a one-population whip, based on the scores, so perhaps those are going into military production. Perhaps someone who has a better view of their territory would know more.

That is all that I can offer at the moment. Hopefully I will have a better sense of my time table a few more turns into the game.

Oh, and a very minor gripe: I know not of a civilization named "Rome." Mine is named "The Galactic Empire," or just "The Empire" for short.

Dantski/Romali:

Hi followers of the CoW!

kalin asked me to post some stuff so here I am posting stuff.

Currently Mali (Or as I like to refer to myself the Romali) have been preparing for conflict with the Killer Angels for a short time, by t90 I should have a 2nd road to Spulla from my western city to their western lands so we can hit them in multiple places.

As for their improving power, they told me they're upgrading their anti-barb defences (which were virtually zero) and I think they know that Jowy's been building military. Note that I don't think they had archery before and that helps the power graph (thats why I was 1st in power early on).
When do we plan on declaring? Currently my NAP with them runs out on t90 but kalin has talked of t100 and it looks like we could have some Praets around then which would be a big help.

They currently have 4 cities (probably 5 in the next 15 turns), Antietam and Gettysburg are the southern targets, both are on hills and were defended by single warriors last time I checked, Gettysburg has 40% culture def, Anti has 20. Gettys can be approached while staying on hills or forests at all times.

Their copper + horse are fairly central in their land, if the northern attacks are successful then it should be easy to pillage them.

I have full view over their cities and nearby territory so if you need to know something, just ask. I'm not going to be keeping my warrior in their land though since I'm pretty sure they'd see that as an overly aggressive move.

-Dantski

Ottomans again;

Dear Friends from the CoW,

Thanks Dantski for the valuable information. The specific information
that I would like, if possible, is the location of their cities as
well as that of their copper/horses relative to a point known to the
other players, for example your capital. For example you could say
something like: the copper is 15E10N of my capital. We know the
location of your capital, so we can translate the coordinates for
those who don't.

@Rome: Regarding the objective of the mission, I have nothing against
eliminating India, but it may be hard. I would suggest to play
conservatively in general because it's hard for most of us to send
reinforcements past the initial wave.

Regarding the timing of the attack. We don't have to all attack in the
same time. I suggested T100 as a possible target when our troops could
arrive. However, if any of you can take advantage of a tactical
advantage earlier, by all means go ahead and do it. Reinforcements
will only help. Again, I advise caution... try not to lose your units
without some gain.

Please comment on our NAP with India. We have one until T80. Athlete
chatted with Sullla and the NAP came up and we may have to renew it. I
kind of hate to renew it because it limits our options, but not
renewing it will probably raise some unnecessary suspicions.

We will soon get a warrior close to India's territory and was hoping
to use it to steal some workers , but I guess if we sign a NAP we'll
_just_ scout.

Whosit again:

Dear Friends and Allies,

Kalin, I would renew the NAP if I were you. Since the plan is to attack around Turn 100, that would work out well. I wouldn't worry too much about someone striking unilaterally. In fact, I would urge against such a course of action. I have seen enough of Sullla's play to believe that none of us could stop him alone. In the worst case, it will jump-start their military production. I also do not think that it is likely that you will be able to snatch any Workers; when I passed by, they had their Workers protected at all times.

I'd like everyone else to chip discuss the scope of our mission. Whatever we do, it needs to be something that will permanently cripple the Killer Angels, so the taking/razing of some of their towns should be necessary. The main reason I want to define our mission clearly is to make it less likely that anyone will accidentally act against our interests. For example, if our goal is to eliminate them, it wouldn't make sense for someone to chase down a stray Worker or Warrior. If we are simply trying to cripple them, then it would be a bad idea to waste soldiers attacking a fortified city.

By the way, Kalin, how direct were you when you approached IKZ? If they're not with us, they may warn India. Any indications from them at all?

Seeing as how the game has advanced, there is not much else for me to add at this time. Still, the Empire looks forward to this assault; it should be fun no matter how it turns out.

Ottomans twice:

Hello fellow CoW Members:

Here's precisely what we sent to the Inca:

"Hello to the Incas,

We wanted to wish you Happy Holidays and best wishes for the new year.

We also wanted to ask how things are going for the Inca. On our side
things are going ok, with the war in a stalemate. We are however
hopeful that things will have a rather happy ending for us, even
though it may take some time.

There is something else, we would like to discuss with you. You have
most likely noticed India ascension in score and, if you have their
graphs, in food, production, and GNP. India got a great scientist
already, and on turn 74 their GNP was of over 100. This situation
worries us. We think that if India continues at this rate they would
roll over their neighbors and become simply unstoppable, particularly
in this game with tech trading off. As such, we were wondering how you
feel about the whole situation and if you think we could do anything.
We are pretty far from them, so it's not easy to act, but we would
like to at least explore possibilities. I think we should at least
"not help" them with anything at the very least. Let us know your
thoughts.

Happy Holidays,

Kalin for Team A/K of the Ottomans"


Nothing very detailed, but we have yet to hear any response. We
believe they are extremely busy in RL and are very limited with their
time. Zeviz should probably rejoin the team in the new year which
might help them in regards to communications, but don't expect any
help from them in time for the CoW to wage war.


Athlete for A/K
Ottomans

Dear Whosit and other CoW Members,

Thanks for your opinion on the NAP. We are also inclined to take it at
the moment as we don't see another good alternative.


> I'd like everyone else to chip discuss the scope of our mission. Whatever we
> do, it needs to be something that will permanently cripple the Killer
> Angels, so the taking/razing of some of their towns should be necessary. The
> main reason I want to define our mission clearly is to make it less likely
> that anyone will accidentally act against our interests. For example, if our
> goal is to eliminate them, it wouldn't make sense for someone to chase down
> a stray Worker or Warrior. If we are simply trying to cripple them, then it
> would be a bad idea to waste soldiers attacking a fortified city.


As I said, I have nothing against eliminating India, but it may
require us all to send a second wave of troops. I think that if we
manage to disconnect their strategic resources and pillage their lands
so that they can only work unimproved tiles, then they are as good as
dead. Finishing them off would be only a matter of time (until someone
sends cats in). In conclusion, if we want to choose as main objective
elimination of India that's fine, but to achieve that we would
probably need to do what I just mentioned: disconnect metal/horses and
pillage them.

I would also like to point out that all members of the CoW already
took a risk by joining and revealing information and plans to the
others. As such, I think it is safe to trust each other. However,
communication will still be key to avoid misunderstandings.

We are very excited about this action,

[Nakor]

And here's our reply to the CoW:

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear CoW members,

Great to have that many responses! Though we still like to hear from Jowy on this matter.

Let's adress some points mentioned by others:

1. We agree with Whosit that our goal should be "total elimination of India". But we also know that this might be a though job. So a war in two stages seems like a good plan. First we strike fast with our first wave, disconnect vital resources, pillage all around and try to take one or two weakly defended city's. In the second wave (if we all can send a second stack), we strike at the core of India, take their capital and clean things up. Whosit's preats will help a lot in the city taking and once/if a second batch arrives it will be easier to take the capital and other cities.

2. We also believe that India will have a tech advantage but we don't know if catapults will already be in place in t100. Construction is a long way from writing and if they want to do some other things as well... I personally think they'll be aiming for Literature/Parthenon. So let's not worry about cat's to much. If we keep thing quiet and they don't expect a war, we should do fine.

3. Let's stick to t100 for the strike. That way the Ottomans can renew their NAP untill turn 100 and we've got 24 turns to build armies/roads. With a clear time table, we can do some math and see how big a strike force we can muster. More on that in a later message. We do suggest that we all declare war on the same turn and move our stack in. When they face problems on 5 fronts, they can't focus their defense on one target and they will be in more trouble, I believe.

4. Indeed more accurate information regarding India's lands would be nice if Dantski/Jowy can provide those. We haven't scouted them yet and returning our scouting warrior would seem suspicious.

5. Let's not count on the Inca's. They are really far away and we've got a good enough coalition as it is. On the other hand, if they do want to send some troops, let them!

Well, that's it so far. More from us in a short time!
To bad it will take almost a month before the real action will start....

Regards,
Nakor of HRE[/COLOR]

All those messages do take a lot of time! But they're great fun as well.